Beau

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has denied four of Australia’s banks an interim authorisation to act collectively against Apple and other third party wallet providers (Samsung and Google) in Australia.

In essence, the banks asked the ACCC to allow them to collectively negotiate with Apple over the terms of its electronic payment system Apple Pay. They have argued that Apple is stifling competition by not allowing banks direct access to the NFC wireless functionality in the iPhone so that they can create their own “digital wallets”.

Australia’s banks have always enjoyed a lucrative income from credit card “interchange fees”, the charges that the banks levy on merchants’ sales. These fees amount to AU $2.5 billion a year which are ultimately passed on to consumers.

Unwilling to share any of this revenue with Apple, all but ANZ and American Express have refused to adopt Apple Pay. Instead, four of the largest banks, NAB, Westpac, Commonwealth and Bendigo and Adelaide have asked Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC, for permission to act collectively to negotiate with Apple over access for their own digital wallet products on its phones, tablets and watches.

Despite launching a few weeks outside Google’s own self-imposed deadline of a H1 2016 release, it seems there’s still the odd teething issue with Android Pay. Case in point, using an Amex card at some retailers/terminals, or McDonald’s for example.

During the ANZ false start last month where I was able to use an ANZ Amex card inside Android Pay, I had success at a handful of retailers like Woolworths and Subway, but an issue at McDonald’s.

After presenting your phone to the terminal, you’ll get an instant decline and the transaction fails.

While Android Pay isn’t the first mobile wallet Australians get to use, following on from Apple Pay and Samsung Wallet, it is the wallet with the support from the most banks. Many banks have previously offered their own mobile payment apps for Android devices, and are now starting to just support the single unified app with Android Pay.

From day one, ANZ is the first major bank onboard (again, after Apple Pay), along with American Express, Macquarie Bank, and a handful of smaller credit unions. Westpac (and it’s other brands, St George, Bank of Melbourne and Bank SA), Bendigo Bank and ING are ‘coming soon’.

Following on from ANZ’s Apple Paylaunch in April, it seems that an Android Pay launch in Australia is now imminent, with ANZ issued American Express cards quietly being accepted when attempting to add a card in Android Pay. Just fire up the Android Pay app, tap add a card, and then either enter in the card verification code for the card already added to your Google Account, scan/take a photo of the card, or manually enter your card details.

While ‘Android Pay’ is not currently available in the Google Play store for Australians, some phones sold in Australia with Marshmallow, and phones flashed with other firmware may already have the Android Pay app installed. And of course, you’re always free to sideload the APK if you’re impatient! (my HTC One M8 is flashed with stock GPE firmware, for those curious among you)